DNA sequencing is a fundamental tool for biological science. The completion of the Human Genome Project has set the stage for screening genetic mutations to identify disease genes on a genome-wide scale (1). Accurate high-throughput DNA sequencing methods are needed to explore the complete human genome sequence for applications in clinical medicine and health care. Recent studies have indicated that an important route for identifying functional elements in the human genome involves sequencing the genomes of many species representing a wide sampling of the evolutionary tree (2). To overcome the limitations of the current electrophoresis-based sequencing technology (3-5), a variety of new DNA-sequencing methods have been investigated. Such approaches include sequencing by hybridization (6), mass spectrometry based sequencing (7-9), and sequence-specific detection of single-stranded DNA using engineered nanopores (10). More recently, DNA sequencing by synthesis (SBS) approaches such as pyrosequencing (11), sequencing of single DNA molecules (12) and polymerase colonies (13) have been widely explored.
The concept of DNA sequencing by synthesis was revealed in 1988 (14). This approach involves detection of the identity of each nucleotide immediately after its incorporation into a growing strand of DNA in a polymerase reaction. Thus far, no complete success has been reported in using such a system to sequence DNA unambiguously. An SBS approach using photocleavable fluorescent nucleotide analogues on a surface was proposed in 2000 (15). In this approach, modified nucleotides are used as reversible terminators, in which a different fluorophore with a distinct fluorescent emission is linked to each of the 4 bases through a photocleavable linker and the 3′-OH group is capped by a small chemical moiety. DNA polymerase incorporates only a single nucleotide analogue complementary to the base on a DNA template covalently linked to a surface. After incorporation, the unique fluorescence emission is detected to identify the incorporated nucleotide and the fluorophore is subsequently removed photochemically. The 3′-OH group is then chemically regenerated, which allows the next cycle of the polymerase reaction to proceed. Since the large surface on a DNA chip can have a high density of different DNA templates spotted, each cycle can identify many bases in parallel, allowing the simultaneous sequencing of a large number of DNA molecules. The advantage of using photons as reagents for initiating photoreactions to cleave the fluorophore is that no additional chemical reagents are required to be introduced into the system and clean products can be generated with no need for subsequent purification.